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Westminster gun club facing pressure over firing range

By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
04/08/2017 09:29:19 AM EDT

The Westminster Rod and Gun Club was issued a cease-and-desist order from the town following complaints from neighbors of increased firearms use. The issue is headed to the Zoning Board of Appeals. SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / Ashley Green

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WESTMINSTER -- After more than 100 years of operation, the Westminster Rod and Gun Club has been sent a letter from the town's building commissioner ordering it to cease all operations following complaints from neighbors of increased firearms use.

The issue is on the agenda of the Zoning Board of Appeals when it meets on April 20 at the elementary school to decide if the club can continue to operate as it has for decades.

Building Commissioner Paul Blanchard said that while Westminster zoning regulations do not allow for shooting ranges, the club was "grandfathered" when the town's zoning regulations were enacted in 1974.

"They're allowed to do what they were doing in 1974," Blanchard said. Friday.

A sign posted at the Westminster Rod and Gun Club range reminds shooters not to fire into the air. The club has been issued a cease-and-desist order.
SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / Ashley Green

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

"Based on documentation and information given to me by abutters and neighbors, we determined they have exceeded that in frequency. They're shooting more and more it appears and with higher-velocity firearms."

According to Blanchard's Feb. 3 cease-and-desist letter, "complaints indicate that the shooting at the Club has gone from a few times a year and the intensity of the noise stemming from the use has dramatically increased. Based on this information, I find that to the extent there is any protection afforded the Property as a pre-existing non-conforming use, it has been exceeded."

Planning Board member Mike Fortin, who said his Minott Road home is about 650 feet from where club members fire their weapons, has been among nearby residents to complain to the town.

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Though Fortin has lived in his home for nearly 40 years now, he said the firearms use has increased in recent years.

"The last few years have been nothing but constant nonstop noise in our neighborhood and their contention is that they're grandfathered," Fortin said. "My contention is that their grandfathered rights don't protect their substantial extensions and alterations of the club to make it become more of a detriment to the neighborhood."

Fortin also alleged that increased gun use at the club has lowered property values in the surrounding neighborhood and has led to some residents finding bullets in their yard.

"Bullets have been found and shown to the town," he said. "When you hear a neighbor tell a story about their grandchild picking up a bullet off their pool deck -- not a shell, a bullet -- then that's cause for concern."

Blanchard confirmed that he has received a complaint from a resident claiming to have found a bullet in their yard. Westminster Police Chief Sam Albert said police have received calls from residents concerned about nearby gunfire from the club, however he said the department has no logged records of bullets being found in any of the neighbors' yards.

Alan Hatch, who is on the club's board of directors, refuted the claim that any bullets from the club had been found on neighboring properties.

"To the best of my knowledge, there's never once been anything like that," he said.

Hatch also said the size of the club has decreased in recent years in both membership and geographic area and that the shooting range is half the size it once was as a result of a skeet range being removed.

"We've maintained around 160 to 170 members, and to be honest our membership is down. Back in the 70s and 80s our membership was over 300," he said.

Currently the club implements a policy of no shooting between dusk and dawn, and has also prohibited any shooting before 10 a.m. on Sundays. Hatch claims that no new shooting events have been created in the years leading up to or following the recent complaints from neighbors. He also said the only large-scale shooting event hosted by the club is a monthly pistol tournament that is open to the public and lasts roughly three hours.

"We've always been open and willing to discuss anything with our neighbors. We want to be as accommodating as possible," Hatch said. "We didn't want it to go this far."

In the years since tensions started to rise between the club and its neighbors, Fortin has been accused of trespassing on club property by club members. He admitted on Friday to having walked on the property to try to see what caliber of weapons had been used and said that he had received a notice from the club that he would be arrested if he trespassed on their property again.

"If it doesn't work out there," said Hatch about the ZBA hearing on April 20, "naturally our next course of action would have to be to bring this matter before a magistrate, get it looked at by a court, and see what they think."

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